The New Testament is a play

Bible scholars are doing a startling re-reading of the Christian scriptures

After a childhood spent going to church, I went to try and understand what the hell the Bible was “saying.” I looked into many matters, and realized there was quite a task with the letters of the apostle Paul.

He was a writer at the core of Christianity. There are vast libraries of commentaries and studies about his letters, all concealing the problem that their meaning is typically unclear. As Voltaire joked: “The Epistles of St Paul are so sublime, it is often difficult to understand them.”

But now I’m looking now over a shocking case being made in Bible scholarship. Could Paul have been a badly misread playwright?

9th century portrait of the apostle Paul wearing theater mask (Bibliorum pars finalis — HB II 54)

Christians who say what Paul’s letters “mean” are trying hard to keep a secret.

His letters say one thing, very often, as they also say the opposite—even if it’s not the position that the Christians choose to emphasize.

Consider the case of 1 Corinthians 14:34–35. This is one of the most famous passages by Paul, and often the only one that…